


Fate, Destiny, or Sheer Bad Luck

by Tinamour



Category: Da Vinci's Demons
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, I wonder if Gregg swears so much irl, Leo is sulky, Riario is his S1!snaky self, Season 1, Swearing, Zo gets more of the spotlight, Zo saves the day, because it's Zo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 09:09:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14766711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinamour/pseuds/Tinamour
Summary: S1E2 AU: Zo gets the Key instead of Leo and decides to hand it over to Riario





	Fate, Destiny, or Sheer Bad Luck

**Author's Note:**

> I recently rewatched S1E2 with meridianrose and got inspired! And she was kind enough to beta my words^^  
> I hope you'll enjoy it, gentle readers!

“Who cares? I’ll just give Riario the damn Key and be done with it!”

Leo’s expression would have been just as hurt had Zo slapped him.

“You cannot do that! You hold knowledge at your fingertips, something that will revolutionize all of humanity…”

“Something given to me by an old drugged man, in a shady tavern, when I was drunk off my ass,” Zo countered, snatching the Key away before Leo could take a hold of it. “Even if there is a grain of truth in what he told me, I’m not interested in saving the world.”

He shoved the Key in his pocket, and that was that.

*

Zo had prepared the meeting with care. After what had happened to Nico, he didn’t want to take any risks.

They were meeting in a large flat space, bare enough to allow good vision for miles and with few places to hide. In the middle of the grassland, stood the corpse of an old tree, its broken branches reaching to the sky like long, white fingers.

Given the Papal lapdog’s taste for murder, Zo thought the choice of setting would please him.

The trunk lay open like a wide wound; the sap had dried now, but still darkened the edge of the yawning gap. Zo had hidden the Key there, and was now standing several feet away, close to his horse and ready to jump on the saddle. The bag at his feet contained some powder, stolen from Leo’s workshop. Not enough to defeat all of Riario’s guards if they decided to attack Zo, but enough to confuse them and make a quick escape.

He saw them arrive from miles away, a large cloud of dust announcing them. The wind carried the neighing of horses and the thunder of hooves to Zo’s ears. Ten men, maybe fifteen.

He should have taken Nico with him. He wouldn’t have made much difference in a fight, but Zo would have felt more at ease.

The party stopped at a respectable distance from him. Only a couple men dismounted, the others staying alert, rising on the stirrups as if to look for a potential ambush.

Zo waited for Riario to walk up to him and didn’t bother to raise his hands to show he wasn’t armed. They had agreed to settle this peacefully, and even if he didn’t trust Riario’s word, he trusted his fucked-up ambition and insane desire to get his hands on the Key.

“Mongrel.”

“Bastard.”

Riario gave a stiff grin at the word. His eyes rested on Zo, hard and cold as a dagger.

He gestured to one of his henchmen. A sharp and experienced movement, nothing more than raising his hand and slightly flexing his fingers. The man was used to giving orders and being obeyed.

The leather purse seemed heavy enough as the man took it from his horse, but not so heavy as to prevent Riario from weighing it in his hand for a moment, as if considering whether it was too much to give Zo.

He eventually looked up. “Florins, as we agreed.”

The purse landed with a loud thud in Zo’s hands.

He took his time, taking each coin out of the bag, ensuring there wasn’t any Papal money hidden amongst them. He was also only too aware of the swords already half drawn, ready to run him through  if he did any wrong move, and of Riario’s increasing annoyance. Good. Make him wait for it.

Zo eventually closed the purse, flashing Riario a satisfied grin.

“Key’s in a bag, inside that tree.”

“No tricks?”

“No tricks.” Leo would have designed a clever way to keep the Key and maim the competition, but Zo was more concerned about his survival and the gold he had just acquired. “Just let me get back to Florence and leave us the fuck alone.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Zo understood better why Lorenzo had called Riario a serpent.

*

The Barking Dog was its usual loud and smelly self. Though it was reeking less now that Vanessa worked there.

Sat at their usual table, Zo was nursing a tankard of ale, the fifth purchased with his brand new gold. He would have to be careful not to draw too much attention to his newly found fortune. A known thief suddenly paying with coins instead of promises would attract suspicion, and his room wasn’t so safe that he didn’t fear robbers or cutthroats.

He had planned on asking Leo for a safe chest in which to keep the gold, but Leo was angry.

When Zo had entered the tavern, he had met Leo’s searing glare. And as Zo sat down in front of him, his friend rose from the table and moved away, further down in the gloomy entrails of the tavern.

“He’s pissed,” Nico said, sliding on to the old wooden bench next to Zo. “He muttered all day about how you were a stupid asshole and you should have given him the Key. He said that the knowledge he would have acquired would be worth far more than any amount of gold Riario could give you.”

“Knowledge doesn’t feed you.”

Nico shrugged.

They drank a few tankards, all paid for by Zo, while Leo brooded in his corner, sketching frantically before balling up the sheets of paper and throwing them over his shoulder with an exasperated sigh. Zo didn’t want to apologize, because he had nothing to apologize for – or maybe having some good sense for once was an offense in his friend’s eyes - and he doubted Leo would have listened to him anyway. So they stole glances at each other across the room, glaring each time they met the other’s gaze.

At the end of her shift, Vanessa went over to Leo, but he didn’t let her sit with him, instead gesturing her away. Upset, she came to sit with Zo and Nico.

“He’s really angry at you,” she told Zo, resentment looming in her voice as well.

He stared at the bottom of his tankard. “I know. Not sure I can do much about it, sadly. But it’s Leo. He’ll sulk for a couple days then he’ll find something else to play with.”

“Maybe…”

*

Nico nearly tore off the door from its hinges as he opened it.

Zo rose from his bed in haste. “What the Devil is wrong with you?”

“Leo,” the boy said, panting. “He…” He pushed a lock of hair from his forehead, took a couple breaths. “He’s gone.”

“What?”

“He’s gone,” Nico repeated, finally catching his breath. “He wasn’t in the studio when I woke up this morning, neither Vanessa nor Andrea saw him…”

Zo struggled with the second sleeve of his jacket. “Did you try the Medici palace?” Leo had commissions there, weapons to deliver to the Medici. Zo wouldn’t be allowed inside, but Nico’s family had a better reputation.

“No, he wasn’t there…”

“And the Donati house?”

No-one else would be foolish enough to visit his mistress in her own house, but it was Leo they were talking about.

Nico wriggled his hands, looking up at Zo as if he was afraid of what would come next. “I think…I think he’s been kidnapped?”

Zo’s first instinct was to burst out laughing.

“Come on, that’s ridiculous! Who would…Fuck!”

Zo didn’t bother to muffle the insult.

“Get Vanessa. We’re going to Rome.”

*

Surprisingly enough, Riario’s den was easy to find. Too easy, Zo thought. He wouldn’t have been surprised if it was a trap. Zo went to the storage building alone, leaving Vanessa and Nico at the inn, with weapons and instructions to get back to Florence as fast as the horses could gallop - and find a way to report Riario for murder - if he wasn’t back come morning.

The old door cracked on its hinges and the smell of moisture, dust, and piss assaulted Zo’s nostrils.

“Honestly, I was expecting better,” he called out. Riario was here, he had to be here. He would want to witness Zo’s dashing rescue of his stupid, foolish, stubborn friend.

“Leo? Where the hell are you?”

Something cracked under Zo’s boot. A bone. Too small and fragile to be human.

The thought was stupid anyway; Riario needed Leo, he wouldn’t hurt him. Or at least not too much. You didn’t need legs to draw and invent war machines.

“In here!”

Leo’s voice, undoubtedly. It was stronger and more assured than Zo had expected.

He took a hesitant step, wishing he had brought a torch to cast out the shadows. Leo’s face finally appeared, sterner than Zo had expected.

“You could have left a note.”

The voice that came from the pit of darkness wasn’t Leo’s.

“I wanted to know how much you cared about your friend.”

Zo gritted his teeth as Riario glided from the shadows to stand at Leo’s side. While Leo’s expression was one of hurt and anger, Riario’s was more relaxed, as if he was in perfect control of the situation.

“I hope you’re not disappointed,” Zo spitted between his teeth.

“No, I am not. Truth be told, we were hoping you would come.”

 _We_. Zo winced.

The bastard was there, so close, presenting his throat like a fucking treat.

Zo rushed forward, knife drawn.

“Wait!”

Zo stopped mechanically at Leo’s injunction. Working for years with dangerous contraptions that could explode in your face would do that to you.

Leo stepped between Riario and Zo, resting his hand on his friend’s arm, making him lower it.

“Riario wants to help us. Together, we can find the Vault and the Book.”

Zo reared back. “Two days ago you wanted nothing to do with him and got pissed at me for giving him the Key! And now you want to help him? What the fuck, Leo?”

Leo reached for Zo’s hand again and tried to speak, but Zo was quicker. “How did he convince you?”

“He didn’t have much convincing to do. He’s actually ready to help me. Unlike you.”

Bitterness filled Zo’s mouth. He hesitated between spitting at Leo and punching Riario.

“So that’s all you want? Finding that stupid Vault and that stupid Book, consequences be damned?”

Leo nodded gravely. “We have to do it.”

“There must be a reason you were given one Key,” Riario said. “We need you, Zoroaster.”

Zo considered them both for a moment. In the dim light seeping through the holes in the roof, they almost looked like brothers. And they shared the same goddamned fucked-up ambition. Someone had to keep them from getting themselves killed.

Correction, someone had to keep Leo from getting himself killed. Riario could rot in a ditch for all Zo cared.

“Fine.” Leo’s face lit up at those words but Zo wasn’t done. “I’ll come with you. But we take Vanessa and Nico with us. And if you try to kill or torture or kidnap any of us again, I won’t let Leo stop me.”

Riario nodded solemnly.

“Do we have a deal, then?” Riario asked in that low, suave voice of his.

“We do.”

Zo had wanted nothing to do with the strange Quest weird strangers had tried to force upon him, but Fate, Destiny or Sheer Bad Luck worked in mysterious ways.


End file.
